vechain

VeChain Financial Report — Q1 2025

Dear Community,

The opening quarter of 2025 marked yet another a transformative period for the VeChain ecosystem. With major protocol upgrades taking centre stage and a backdrop of rapid user/transaction growth powered by the VeBetter platform, Q1 was a period of acceleration for VeChainThor.

Following the publication of our ambitious ‘VeChain Renaissance’ technical roadmap — a wishlist of updates including upgraded staking, revamped tokenomics, a new consensus model, Full EVM equivalence and JSON RPC integration — the stage is set for radical evolution — necessary, as we continue our pursuit of delivering real world adoption for blockchain.

The wider ecosystem welcomed new partnerships under the TKO umbrella, including a deal with the Power Slap league, opening the doors to new audiences, and Wanchain, the interoperability protocol, delivering cross-chain bridging capabilities to over 40 leading blockchains for the first time, opening new pathways to adoption and liquidity.

On the community governance front, a successful all-stakeholder vote took place, helping launch the Galactica testnet – phase one of VeChain Renaissance – demonstrating the centrality of community influence in the direction of the protocol’s evolution. Once the second stage of VeChain Renaissance goes live - ‘Hayabusa’ - this importance will only grow, with stakers helping decentralize and secure the protocol, earning for their efforts.

By the end of Q1 2025, the Foundation’s treasury stood at $218,545,123.57, having endured volatility due to wider market conditions. Thanks to stringent internal processes and disciplined resource management, VeChain had no issue navigating this period with ample resources on-hand.

As aways, in the name of openness and transparency, we are excited to deliver the details on our Q1 2025 expenditures, honouring the commitments made back in 2017.

Thank you for being an integral part of the VeChain community, joining our journey as we build a better future, together.

Sincerely,

VeChain Foundation

Balance Sheet

The balance sheet shows the total value of tokens held by VeChain, denominated in US Dollar value, and includes the value of BTC and ETH raised during ICO in 2017.

At the end of Q1 2025, the VeChain Foundation's total treasury value, including stablecoins and holdings of BTC, ETH, and VET, stood at $218,545,123.57. This represents a decrease from the $454,378,261.73 by 51%, as reported at the end of Q4 2024. The volatility is reflective of the broader cryptocurrency market conditions experienced during the quarter.

Comparing Q4 2024 with Q1 2025, asset prices were significantly impacted by market conditions: VET decreased by 48.16%, ETH fell by 46.19%, and BTC declined by 11.13%. Despite these market challenges, our strategic initiatives and operational execution continued without interruption, demonstrating the resilience of our financial model and long-term approach.

Expenses Sheet

The expenses sheet covers all spending categories and summarises the expenses incurred by the foundation through various activities, initiatives, developments, and engagements.

PR & Marketing: PR & Marketing investments support growth, advertising, brand positioning and more across traditional, agency, and KOL channels. These investments are key in helping VeChain maintain its leading role in the broader crypto market.

Legal & Finance: Q1 Legal & Financial expenses totalled $1,128,959 USD, covering compliance, regulatory, and strategic advisory services. This investment supported our continued MiCAR compliance operations and helped establish legal frameworks for partnerships developed during the period.

Eco-Ops: Eco-Ops pertain to the continued expansion of ecosystem operations and development. This expense covers outsourced technical services, specialized consulting engagements, and team compensation.

Tech-Ops: Tech-Ops expenditures relate to intensive development work spanning the Technology centre of the Foundation. It covers various internal teams pursuing multiple technical goals in parallel, from wallet to protocol, to infrastructure, tools and technologies.

Eco BD: Eco BD funds are support to the growth and expansion of the VeChain and VeBetter ecosystems, including strategic investments, onboarding new strategic partners, and supporting the overall expansion of the ecosystem.

A Quarter of Preparation and New Growth

2025 Q1 served a critical function this year – serving as a foundation-building quarter for many of the successes we’ve seen since, as well as those yet to be announced.

2025 Q1 also highlighted the importance of disciplined financial management and fiscal prudence. Our CFO team, led by David Smith, has continued to enhance its operational capabilities, and allowed us to navigate a turbulent quarter without having to compromise on our strategic priorities.

Continued investment in ecosystem development, strategic partnerships, and technical advancements during Q1 were proven prescient, baring fruit in later quarters as we march through 2025.

VeChain’s evolution and pursuit of its goal to deliver mass adoption of Web3 technology remains steadfast. With the unwavering support of VeFam and growth across the wider Web3 industry, we continue moving confidently toward our goal of delivering a valuable, impactful Web3 App platform that incentivizes users, and creates tangible impact and benefits to the world around us.

Onwards, we ride! Keep building.

About VeChain:

Founded in 2015, VeChain is a general-purpose, adoption-focused blockchain platform built to drive mass adoption for Web3, while rewarding positive social and environmental actions in the real-world. Its energy-efficient blockchain, VeChainThor, provides scalable, low-cost infrastructure for developers and businesses to build applications without requiring deep technical expertise. Having proven its model through global partnerships with UFC, BCG, and Walmart, and with over 2 million users engaging in VeBetter-powered apps, and 28 Million tokenized actions on-chain, VeChain is driving a retail-first adoption strategy, making blockchain accessible, impactful, and rewarding for everyday users. For grants, resources and more, visit vechain.org.

Disclaimer:

This crypto-asset marketing communication has not been reviewed or approved by any competent authority in any Member State of the European Union. The person seeking admission to trading of the crypto-asset is solely responsible for the content of this crypto-asset marketing communication. This marketing communication is issued by VeChain Foundation San Marino S.r.l..

White Papers relating to the crypto assets that we issue in the European Economic Area (EEA) are published and available on our website.

Contact: https://support.vechain.org

VeChain Financial Report — Q1 2025 was originally published in VeChain on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Keyrock, the Brussels-based market-making firm serving institutional clients globally, is set to become a VeChainThor Validator to support network security while enhancing market liquidity for VET and VTHO.

Founded in 2017, Keyrock has established itself as a leading change-maker in digital asset markets, providing liquidity to over 85 centralized and decentralized venues worldwide. The firm’s decision to support ecosystem liquidity and become a network Validator demonstrates the growing institutional recognition of VeChain’s unique value proposition: real-world utility backed by technical excellence.

Institutional Pedigree Meets Real-World Blockchain

Keyrock joins VeChainThor’s Validator network with robust institutional operations forged through years of digital asset market leadership. Their 170+ member team operates across 36 countries, blending crypto-native expertise with traditional finance backgrounds and compliance specialization — precisely the type of Validator needed for VeChain’s phase of mass adoption.

The firm’s founding vision remains focused on providing large-scale liquidity across all digital assets, an infrastructure-first philosophy that complements VeChain’s mission to deliver blockchain solutions with real-world utility and measurable impact.

Keyrock’s operational resilience became evident during the crypto winter of 2022–23, when they secured major institutional backing while many competitors faltered. The firm’s ability to triple trading volume and double headcount during market stress demonstrates the institutional-grade reliability essential for securing VeChainThor.

Proven Infrastructure Excellence Across Markets

Keyrock’s VeChainThor Validator entry builds on their extensive experience managing mission-critical financial infrastructure. Their proprietary algorithmic trading technologies operate across 85+ trading venues, handling billions in volume while maintaining enterprise-grade security and uptime standards.

The firm’s participation in Northstake’s ETH Validator Marketplace, alongside institutional giants like GSR, Nonco, and DV Chain, demonstrates its Validator capabilities. Keyrock’s addition to the regulated marketplace for institutional ETH staking validates their ability to meet the compliance and performance standards that sophisticated investors demand.

Keyrock’s Swiss regulatory clearance from VQF and dedication to “upholding rigorous regulatory standards within the crypto space” showcase their ability to operate sophisticated financial infrastructure within strict compliance frameworks — essential capabilities for validating enterprise-focused blockchain networks.

Keyrock’s Market-Making Mission for VET and VTHO

Keyrock’s collaboration with VeChain extends far beyond network validation to encompass their core expertise: market making and liquidity provision. As a leading digital asset market maker operating across 85+ centralized and decentralized venues, Keyrock brings critical infrastructure capabilities to enhance VET and VTHO trading efficiency.

The firm’s algorithmic trading technologies, proven across billions of dollars in volume, will focus on enhancing market depth and reducing spreads for VeChain’s native tokens. This enhanced liquidity benefits the entire ecosystem by providing more efficient price discovery and reduced trading costs for both institutional and retail participants.

“We look forward to deepening our involvement across the ecosystem by enhancing market liquidity on CEXs and DEXs,” stated Juan David Mendieta, CSO of Keyrock. This market-making infrastructure becomes increasingly valuable as VeChain’s enterprise adoption drives organic token demand, ensuring that growing utility translates into efficient and liquid markets for all ecosystem participants.

Strategic Timing with VeChain Renaissance

The VeChain Renaissance protocol upgrade has created attractive Validator economics while enhancing network security, decentralization, and institutional accessibility — exactly the type of environment that sophisticated infrastructure providers like Keyrock seek.

Under Hayabusa’s tokenomics upgrades, Validators can stake between 25M and 600M VET, earning 30% of block rewards plus 100% of priority fees from the dynamic gas market. With projected Validator APY starting at approximately 20%, these economics provide the institutional-grade returns that are inviting significant capital commitments.

The Renaissance upgrade’s removal of KYC requirements while maintaining robust governance frameworks aligns with Keyrock’s global operations and regulatory-first approach, making VeChainThor validation both accessible and compliant for its institutional structure.

Real-World Utility Drives Infrastructure Investment

Keyrock’s Validator commitment underscores VeChain’s differentiation through proven real-world utility. Unlike speculative blockchain projects, VeChainThor powers real-world applications for both businesses and retail, generating consistent transaction volume and user growth — the foundation that institutional Validators require for sustainable returns.

The VeBetter ecosystem’s millions of users and growing suite of X-to-Earn sustainability applications provide utility-driven VTHO consumption that supports Validator economics. Keyrock’s participation will benefit directly from this organic demand rather than purely speculative activity.

Their partnership approach — “Your success is our success” — aligns with VeChain’s collaborative ecosystem model, where Validators, Delegators, builders, and enterprises all benefit from shared success rather than zero-sum competition.

The Institutional Validation Accelerates

Keyrock’s Validator participation represents more than individual commitment — it signals institutional validation of VeChain’s strategic direction. When a firm managing billions in trading volume across 85+ venues chooses to commit significant resources to securing a network, it demonstrates calculated confidence in the network’s strategic direction.

The firm’s “ambitious” goal to “become one of the largest players in global financial markets” requires careful capital allocation and strategic positioning. Their decision to become a Validator on VeChainThor while expanding globally suggests that they believe VeChain represents critical infrastructure for the tokenized future they’re building toward.

The Next Growth Chapter Begins

Keyrock’s entry into VeChainThor validation marks another milestone in the institutional adoption of compliance-focused blockchain infrastructure. Their sophisticated approach to risk management, regulatory compliance, and operational excellence exemplifies the Validator quality that VeChain seeks to attract.

As VeChain Renaissance continues enhancing network capabilities through improved EVM compatibility and advanced tokenomics, Keyrock’s participation validates a fundamental thesis: the future belongs to blockchains that combine regulatory excellence with measurable real-world utility.

The convergence of institutional capital, proven infrastructure, and enterprise adoption creates the foundation for VeChain’s next phase of growth — powered by Validators who bring institutional-grade expertise and long-term commitment to network security.

About VeChain

Founded in 2015, VeChain is a general-purpose, adoption-focused blockchain platform built to drive mass adoption for Web3, while rewarding positive social and environmental actions in the real-world. Its energy-efficient blockchain, VeChainThor, provides scalable, low-cost infrastructure for developers and businesses to build applications without requiring deep technical expertise. Having proven its model through global partnerships with UFC, BCG, and Walmart, and with over 2 million users engaging in VeBetter-powered apps, VeChain is driving a retail-first adoption strategy, making blockchain accessible, impactful, and rewarding for everyday users. For grants, resources and more, visit vechain.org.

About Keyrock

Founded in Brussels in 2017, Keyrock is a global crypto investment firm leading in market making, OTC, and options trading for digital assets. Providing liquidity to over 85 centralized and decentralized venues worldwide, their 170-strong team operates across 37 countries, with entities in Belgium, the UK, Switzerland, France, and the U.S. Keyrock’s commitment to the industry is practical, not theoretical. They offer in-depth industry insights, co-create DeFi ecosystems, and actively support Web3 startups.

With Keyrock, the future of digital assets is not just envisioned; it’s actively being built.

Disclaimer:

This crypto-asset marketing communication has not been reviewed or approved by any competent authority in any Member State of the European Union. The person seeking admission to trading of the crypto-asset is solely responsible for the content of this crypto-asset marketing communication. This marketing communication is issued by VeChain Foundation San Marino S.r.l..

White Papers relating to the crypto assets that we issue in the European Economic Area (EEA) are published and available on our website.

Contact: https://support.vechain.org

Keyrock to Become Network Validator: Institutional Market Maker to Bolster VeChain’s Infrastructure was originally published in VeChain on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

There is no more doubt: The world is moving to blockchain. Accordingly, a strategic priority at VeChain is onboarding key institutional players who can bring the tools, services and infrastructure needed to support our goal of delivering mass adoption for Web3 applications.

On that front, we’re incredibly proud to spotlight the first of three new institutional collaborators - BitGo - a global leader in digital asset custody and institutional infrastructure, and an OG in the space, having been operational since 2013.

Integration with BitGo brings regulated custodian products that open up many new opportunities for VeChainThor and the VeBetter ecosystem, and their institution-grade tokenization and Node/Staking services help facilitate peace of mind for large, professional stakeholders joining us to secure the blockchain as a Validator once VeChain’s tokenomics changes are enacted towards the end of 2025.

The Business of Trust

Founded in 2013, BitGo offers a broad suite of services centered around digital asset custody and infrastructure. This includes both hot and cold wallets with advanced multi-sig and key segregation, custodial services backed by regulated trust entities, and insurance coverage up to $250 million.

BitGo serves over 2,000 institutional clients across more than 90 countries. These clients range from exchanges and brokerages to token foundations, hedge funds, asset managers, and large consumer brands such as Nike and SoFi. This global reach is a testament to BitGo’s ability to meet the complex needs of organizations that require high levels of security, compliance, and performance in their digital asset operations. Now, we welcome BitGo’s technical prowess into our own expanding institutional ecosystem.

BitGo’s trading and settlement tools, including the Go Network, enable institutions to settle assets off-exchange in real time, reducing counterparty risk and improving capital efficiency. BitGo also provides secure staking services, access to decentralized finance, NFT wallet capabilities, and tooling for launching stablecoins, including as the custodian and infrastructure provider for the launch of USD1, World Liberty Financial, Inc.’s US dollar-backed stablecoin.

“Institutional adoption depends on secure, scalable infrastructure,” said Chen Fang, Chief Revenue Officer at BitGo. “BitGo is proud to bring regulated custody and operational expertise to VeChain’s ecosystem, supporting the next generation of tokenized products alongside other leaders currently entering their ecosystem.”

Validating Confidence

Following the integration of BitGo’s custody solutions, the VeChainThor ecosystem gains an invaluable pillar of trust and risk management — a must-have for financial institutions, corporations, and investors looking to become Validators, secure the blockchain, and participate in VeChain’s reward, decentralization, and security mechanisms.

With financial institutions exploring blockchain with increasing fervour, VeChain, thanks to BitGo, can confidently meet their stringent needs, opening new avenues to collaborators that share our vision of a future powered by tokenization, RWA, and Web3.

Our flagship app platform — VeBetter — recently hit 4 million active users, and boasts over 27.8 Million tokenized activities in just one year of being live on mainnet. Bolstered by the support and institutional infrastructure, provided by BitGo and others, we’re incredibly optimistic about how we scale and grow even further from here.

Crypto Growth’s New Meta

Looking ahead, it’s clear things are changing for the crypto industry. Institutional infrastructure is taking an increasingly central presence as legacy players — those with the capital, resources and technologies to meaningfully move markets — deploy en masse.

Therefore, for any protocol, working with the right parties is critical for crossing the gap, scaling ecosystems, and pursuing a collective goal: The onboarding of a billion users to crypto, and beyond.

We can summarise four emerging macro patterns for crypto market as:

1. From retail driven to institutionally led

2. From narrative driven to utility-focused

3. From infrastructure-level to killer applications

4. From novel tech to driving real user growth

BitGo, in this sense, deliver foundational infrastructure for VeChain, and represent an important step on this journey.

Stay tuned — much more to come!

About BitGo

BitGo is the leading infrastructure provider of digital asset solutions, delivering custody, wallets, staking, trading, financing, and settlement services from regulated cold storage. Since our founding in 2013, we have focused on enabling our clients to securely navigate the digital asset space. With a large global presence through multiple regulated entities, BitGo serves thousands of institutions, including many of the industry’s top brands, exchanges, and platforms, as well as millions of retail investors worldwide. As the operational backbone of the digital economy, BitGo handles a significant portion of Bitcoin network transactions and is the largest independent digital asset custodian, and staking provider, in the world. For more information, visit www.bitgo.com.

About VeChain

Founded in 2015, VeChain is a general-purpose, adoption-focused blockchain platform built to drive mass adoption for Web3, while rewarding positive social and environmental actions in the real-world. Its energy-efficient blockchain, VeChainThor, provides scalable, low-cost infrastructure for developers and businesses to build applications without requiring deep technical expertise. Having proven its model through global partnerships with UFC, BCG, and Walmart, and with over 2 million users engaging in VeBetter-powered apps, VeChain is driving a retail-first adoption strategy, making blockchain accessible, impactful, and rewarding for everyday users. For grants, resources and more, visit vechain.org.

VeChain Joins Forces With BitGo to Build Foundations For Institutional Adoption was originally published in VeChain on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Today, we’re proud to announce strategic collaborations with Franklin Templeton, BitGo, and Keyrock — three institutional leaders that share our vision for the future of Web3, each bringing unique capabilities that advance our collective goal of growth and adoption for the industry.

Against a backdrop of positive regulatory developments, advancing adoption, and bolstered by our impressive track record of delivering real world applications, the time has come to elevate our platform even further, and collaborate with leading partners to deliver new kinds of real-world tools, products and services, powered by VeChain.

Together, we’re building a robust environment for enterprises and investors to engage with tokenized assets on a foundation of sustainability, regulatory compliance, new staking products via StarGate, and technical excellence. These partnerships reflect our long-term strategy to build infrastructure that connects blockchain with everyday business and investment practices.

We’re excited to be working with Franklin Templeton, BitGo, and Keyrock and are grateful for their trust and collaboration. This is more than a milestone — it’s a signal of what’s to come.

What follows is a copy of the press release published today. We will spotlight each partner in the coming weeks, and share more insights about the scope of each collaboration.

______________________________________________________________

Franklin Templeton, BitGo and Keyrock Join VeChain’s Institutional Build-Out

VeChain leverages Franklin Templeton’s BENJI platform and the $800M FOBXX fund to enable B2B transactions, while BitGo and Keyrock bring custody and a new validator client to its scalable, energy-efficient infrastructure for regulated financial products

July 24, 2025 — New York, NY — VeChain, the leading real-world-application focused Layer 1, today announced its collaboration with Franklin Templeton to breathe new life into the groundbreaking BENJI platform with enterprise payment solutions, extending Franklin’s multi-chain strategy and enabling more use cases for the Franklin Templeton OnChain U.S. Government Money Fund (FOBXX). This is part of a broader effort to expand its institutional-grade infrastructure, as BitGo joins the ecosystem as a custody provider and Keyrock brings both derivatives trading capabilities and a new validator client.

The partnerships bring some of the most significant players in their space onto the world’s leading blockchain for business and sustainability-focused applications, as VeChain scales its institutional offerings to provide an unmatched opportunity for investors, opening an avenue to benefit from its tokenized assets in a sustainable and compliant manner.

“Franklin Templeton, BitGo and Keyrock are some of the best names in their respective fields. Bringing them together on VeChain offers institutional investors an unrivaled value proposition that is overlaid with a long-term, sustainable mindset,” said Sunny Lu, Co-Founder and CEO of VeChain.

BitGo’s regulated custody services and Keyrock’s derivatives trading, market making, and node operations expertise ensure that investors can access, trade and securely keep assets on the world’s leading blockchain environment thematically focused on sustainability.

Juan David Mendieta, CSO of Keyrock, stated, “VeChain has consistently demonstrated the potential of blockchain technology through real-world utility. From supply chain tracking and carbon management to food safety and sustainability reporting.’’ He added: ‘’As core participants in the VeChain validator program, we’re proud to support the network by securing and investing in its long-term growth. We look forward to deepening our involvement across the ecosystem by enhancing market liquidity on CEXs and DEXs and by contributing infrastructure support to help power VeChain’s future milestones.”

“Institutional adoption depends on secure, scalable infrastructure,” added Chen Fang, Chief Revenue Officer of BitGo. “BitGo is proud to bring regulated custody and operational expertise to VeChain’s ecosystem, supporting the next generation of tokenized financial products alongside leaders like Franklin Templeton and Keyrock.”

The BENJI platform enables tokenized access to the FOBXX fund with each BENJI token representing one share of the SEC-registered money market fund. The fund invests 99.5% of its total assets in cash, government securities, and fully collateralized repurchase agreements. As of July 2025, FOBXX has more than $700 million in assets under management, making it the second largest tokenized fund on the market. This move also comes as the money market fund industry approaches $7 trillion in assets as of May 2025, with $4.1 trillion held by institutions and $2.9 trillion by retail investors.

The collaboration will strengthen Franklin Templeton’s distribution strategy, while giving enterprises and institutional investors engaging with VeChain a differentiated way to integrate tokenized money market funds into their payment and cash management options. VeChain’s Layer 1 blockchain is purpose-built for real-world adoption, featuring a dual-token model that separates governance (VET) from transaction fees (VTHO), enabling predictable and low-cost operations.

This stability is essential for financial products like money market funds, which require high-frequency settlement and cost efficiency. In addition to its fee structure, VeChain offers native tools for verifiable data, ESG reporting, and IoT integration, opening the door for Franklin Templeton to explore future innovations in tokenized assets, including real-world asset-backed and sustainability-linked products.

Earlier this month, Franklin Templeton introduced “Intraday Yield” on BENJI, enabling investors to earn proportional yield even for intraday token holdings — a feature supported by VeChain’s fast settlement times and low fees. This continued partnership highlights the growing institutional confidence in alternative Layer 1 blockchains to support the next wave of onchain financial products.

About VeChain

Founded in 2015, VeChain is a general-purpose, adoption-focused blockchain platform built to drive mass adoption for Web3, while rewarding positive social and environmental actions in the real-world. Its energy-efficient blockchain, VeChainThor, provides scalable, low-cost infrastructure for developers and businesses to build applications without requiring deep technical expertise. Having proven its model through global partnerships with UFC, BCG, and Walmart, and with over 2 million users engaging in VeBetter-powered apps, VeChain is driving a retail-first adoption strategy, making blockchain accessible, impactful, and rewarding for everyday users. For grants, resources and more, visit vechain.org.

About Franklin Templeton

Franklin Resources, Inc. [NYSE:BEN] is a global investment management organization with subsidiaries operating as Franklin Templeton and serving clients in over 150 countries. Franklin Templeton’s mission is to help clients achieve better outcomes through investment management expertise, wealth management and technology solutions. Through its specialist investment managers, the company offers specialization on a global scale, bringing extensive capabilities in fixed income, equity, alternatives and multi-asset solutions. With more than 1,500 investment professionals, and offices in major financial markets around the world, the California-based company has over 75 years of investment experience and $1.57 trillion in assets under management as of May 31, 2025. For more information, please visit franklintempleton.com and follow us on LinkedIn, X and Facebook.

About BitGo

BitGo is the leading infrastructure provider of digital asset solutions, delivering custody, wallets, staking, trading, financing, and settlement services from regulated cold storage. Since our founding in 2013, we have focused on enabling our clients to securely navigate the digital asset space. With a large global presence through multiple regulated entities, BitGo serves thousands of institutions, including many of the industry’s top brands, exchanges, and platforms, as well as millions of retail investors worldwide. As the operational backbone of the digital economy, BitGo handles a significant portion of Bitcoin network transactions and is the largest independent digital asset custodian, and staking provider, in the world. For more information, visit www.bitgo.com.

About Keyrock

Founded in Brussels in 2017, Keyrock is a global crypto investment firm leading in market making, OTC, and options trading for digital assets. Providing liquidity to over 85 centralized and decentralized venues worldwide, their 170-strong team operates across 37 countries, with entities in Belgium, the UK, Switzerland, France, and the U.S. Keyrock’s commitment to the industry is practical, not theoretical. They offer in-depth industry insights, co-create DeFi ecosystems, and actively support Web3 startups.

With Keyrock, the future of digital assets is not just envisioned; it’s actively being built.

Today, we’re proud to announce strategic collaborations with Franklin Templeton, BitGo, and Keyrock — three institutional leaders that share our vision for the future of Web3, each bringing unique capabilities that advance our collective goal of growth and adoption for the industry.

Against a backdrop of positive regulatory developments, advancing adoption, and bolstered by our impressive track record of delivering real world applications, the time has come to elevate our platform even further, and collaborate with leading partners to deliver new kinds of real-world tools, products and services, powered by VeChain.

Together, we’re building a robust environment for enterprises and investors to engage with tokenized assets on a foundation of sustainability, regulatory compliance, new staking products via StarGate, and technical excellence. These partnerships reflect our long-term strategy to build infrastructure that connects blockchain with everyday business and investment practices.

We’re excited to be working with Franklin Templeton, BitGo, and Keyrock and are grateful for their trust and collaboration. This is more than a milestone — it’s a signal of what’s to come.

What follows is a copy of the press release published today. We will spotlight each partner in the coming weeks, and share more insights about the scope of each collaboration.

______________________________________________________________

Franklin Templeton, BitGo and Keyrock Join VeChain’s Institutional Build-Out

VeChain leverages Franklin Templeton’s BENJI platform and the $800M FOBXX fund to enable B2B transactions, while BitGo and Keyrock bring custody and a new validator client to its scalable, energy-efficient infrastructure for regulated financial products

July 24, 2025 — New York, NY — VeChain, the leading real-world-application focused Layer 1, today announced its collaboration with Franklin Templeton to breathe new life into the groundbreaking BENJI platform with enterprise payment solutions, extending Franklin’s multi-chain strategy and enabling more use cases for the Franklin Templeton OnChain U.S. Government Money Fund (FOBXX). This is part of a broader effort to expand its institutional-grade infrastructure, as BitGo joins the ecosystem as a custody provider and Keyrock brings both derivatives trading capabilities and a new validator client.

The partnerships bring some of the most significant players in their space onto the world’s leading blockchain for business and sustainability-focused applications, as VeChain scales its institutional offerings to provide an unmatched opportunity for investors, opening an avenue to benefit from its tokenized assets in a sustainable and compliant manner.

“Franklin Templeton, BitGo and Keyrock are some of the best names in their respective fields. Bringing them together on VeChain offers institutional investors an unrivaled value proposition that is overlaid with a long-term, sustainable mindset,” said Sunny Lu, Co-Founder and CEO of VeChain.

BitGo’s regulated custody services and Keyrock’s derivatives trading, market making, and node operations expertise ensure that investors can access, trade and securely keep assets on the world’s leading blockchain environment thematically focused on sustainability.

Juan David Mendieta, CSO of Keyrock, stated, “VeChain has consistently demonstrated the potential of blockchain technology through real-world utility. From supply chain tracking and carbon management to food safety and sustainability reporting.’’ He added: ‘’As core participants in the VeChain validator program, we’re proud to support the network by securing and investing in its long-term growth. We look forward to deepening our involvement across the ecosystem by enhancing market liquidity on CEXs and DEXs and by contributing infrastructure support to help power VeChain’s future milestones.”

“Institutional adoption depends on secure, scalable infrastructure,” added Chen Fang, Chief Revenue Officer of BitGo. “BitGo is proud to bring regulated custody and operational expertise to VeChain’s ecosystem, supporting the next generation of tokenized financial products alongside leaders like Franklin Templeton and Keyrock.”

The BENJI platform enables tokenized access to the FOBXX fund with each BENJI token representing one share of the SEC-registered money market fund. The fund invests 99.5% of its total assets in cash, government securities, and fully collateralized repurchase agreements. As of July 2025, FOBXX has more than $700 million in assets under management, making it the second largest tokenized fund on the market. This move also comes as the money market fund industry approaches $7 trillion in assets as of May 2025, with $4.1 trillion held by institutions and $2.9 trillion by retail investors.

The collaboration will strengthen Franklin Templeton’s distribution strategy, while giving enterprises and institutional investors engaging with VeChain a differentiated way to integrate tokenized money market funds into their payment and cash management options. VeChain’s Layer 1 blockchain is purpose-built for real-world adoption, featuring a dual-token model that separates governance (VET) from transaction fees (VTHO), enabling predictable and low-cost operations.

This stability is essential for financial products like money market funds, which require high-frequency settlement and cost efficiency. In addition to its fee structure, VeChain offers native tools for verifiable data, ESG reporting, and IoT integration, opening the door for Franklin Templeton to explore future innovations in tokenized assets, including real-world asset-backed and sustainability-linked products.

Earlier this month, Franklin Templeton introduced “Intraday Yield” on BENJI, enabling investors to earn proportional yield even for intraday token holdings — a feature supported by VeChain’s fast settlement times and low fees. This continued partnership highlights the growing institutional confidence in alternative Layer 1 blockchains to support the next wave of onchain financial products.

About VeChain

Founded in 2015, VeChain is a general-purpose, adoption-focused blockchain platform built to drive mass adoption for Web3, while rewarding positive social and environmental actions in the real-world. Its energy-efficient blockchain, VeChainThor, provides scalable, low-cost infrastructure for developers and businesses to build applications without requiring deep technical expertise. Having proven its model through global partnerships with UFC, BCG, and Walmart, and with over 2 million users engaging in VeBetter-powered apps, VeChain is driving a retail-first adoption strategy, making blockchain accessible, impactful, and rewarding for everyday users. For grants, resources and more, visit vechain.org.

About Franklin Templeton

Franklin Resources, Inc. [NYSE:BEN] is a global investment management organization with subsidiaries operating as Franklin Templeton and serving clients in over 150 countries. Franklin Templeton’s mission is to help clients achieve better outcomes through investment management expertise, wealth management and technology solutions. Through its specialist investment managers, the company offers specialization on a global scale, bringing extensive capabilities in fixed income, equity, alternatives and multi-asset solutions. With more than 1,500 investment professionals, and offices in major financial markets around the world, the California-based company has over 75 years of investment experience and $1.57 trillion in assets under management as of May 31, 2025. For more information, please visit franklintempleton.com and follow us on LinkedIn, X and Facebook.

About BitGo

BitGo is the leading infrastructure provider of digital asset solutions, delivering custody, wallets, staking, trading, financing, and settlement services from regulated cold storage. Since our founding in 2013, we have focused on enabling our clients to securely navigate the digital asset space. With a large global presence through multiple regulated entities, BitGo serves thousands of institutions, including many of the industry’s top brands, exchanges, and platforms, as well as millions of retail investors worldwide. As the operational backbone of the digital economy, BitGo handles a significant portion of Bitcoin network transactions and is the largest independent digital asset custodian, and staking provider, in the world. For more information, visit www.bitgo.com.

About Keyrock

Founded in Brussels in 2017, Keyrock is a global crypto investment firm leading in market making, OTC, and options trading for digital assets. Providing liquidity to over 85 centralized and decentralized venues worldwide, their 170-strong team operates across 37 countries, with entities in Belgium, the UK, Switzerland, France, and the U.S. Keyrock’s commitment to the industry is practical, not theoretical. They offer in-depth industry insights, co-create DeFi ecosystems, and actively support Web3 startups.

With Keyrock, the future of digital assets is not just envisioned; it’s actively being built.

Institutional News: Franklin Templeton, BitGo & Keyrock Join VeChain To Accelerate Web3 Adoption was originally published in Coinmonks on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Today, we’re excited to share that VeChainThor, our real-world-ready Layer 1 blockchain, officially opens doors to the wider crypto industry supported by cross-chain bridge partner, Wanchain.

Renowned as a leading platform for decentralized interoperability infrastructure, Wanchain’s bridge connects us to more than 40 leading blockchains — including Ethereum, Bitcoin, Solana, and BNB Chain — ushering in a new phase of cross-chain DeFi innovation, VeBetter ecosystem growth, and global liquidity expansion.

The launch is timely — with the recent launch of our new institutional-grade staking platform — StarGate - ongoing core protocol/tokenomics upgrades in the form of VeChain Renaissance, and the fast growing Web3 app platform — VeBetter — Wanchain’s bridge expands our horizons, opening an abundance of new avenues and opportunities.

Check out the bridge, here: bridge.wanchain.org.

Breaking Blockchain Silos

The bridge allows VeChainThor users and vice-versa to move assets seamlessly across a diverse and expanding network of EVM and non-EVM blockchains.

The launch positions key VeChain-native assets — $VET, $VTHO, and $B3TR — for broader adoption by decentralized exchanges, staking platforms, liquidity pools, and lending protocols throughout the broader DeFi ecosystem.

Based on data from DeFiLlama, the Wanchain Bridge is on track to become one of the most active cross-chain bridges by volume. Following the launch of StarGate on 1st July, VeChain has added $100M in TVL. We hope to onboard even more liquidity and users in the coming months working with Wanchain, building on this pace of adoption.

Secure, Battle-Tested Infrastructure

The bridge is built on Wanchain’s proprietary technology layer, which leverages Secure Multiparty Computation (sMPC) and Shamir’s Secret Sharing to facilitate decentralized and non-custodial transfers. Wanchain has maintained a flawless security record since 2017, having processed billions of dollars in cross-chain volume without incident.

Temujin Louie, CEO of Wanchain, emphasized the significance of the collaboration:

“Partnering with VeChain to launch their first-ever cross-chain bridge is a game-changer for their blockchain interoperability.

This integration connects VeChainThor to the most used chains, unlocking seamless asset transfers and fuelling news kinds of real-world focused innovation. We’re thrilled to empower VeChain’s ecosystem with Wanchain’s secure, battle-tested infrastructure.”

The bridge supports interactions with decentralized applications on Uniswap, PancakeSwap, Raydium, and other top DeFi platforms, collectively representing over $100 billion in total value locked.

Fee free Bridging

Service fees for all bridge transactions to VeChain will be waived for the first 30 days, with users only responsible for network gas fees. This fee-free window offers a cost-effective entry point for anyone seeking to integrate VeChainThor into their DeFi strategies, or expand their applications into the fast-growing VeBetter ecosystem.

Supported Chains and Assets

Bridged assets visible in the VeWorld wallet.

At launch, the Wanchain-powered VeChain bridge supports a robust list of networks and tokens:

VeChain <> Bitcoin: BTC

VeChain <> Ethereum: ETH, USDC, USDT, VET, VTHO, B3TR

VeChain <> Solana: SOL, USDC, USDT

VeChain <> XRP Ledger: XRP

VeChain <> Wanchain: BTC, ETH, VET, USDC, USDT, WAN

This initial, extensive coverage opens up substantial liquidity channels and integration pathways across a wide range of DeFi markets and use cases.

These tokens are now available in the token registry, and can be included in your VeWorld wallet token tab!

Strategic Vision for 2025 and Beyond

This is just the first step of our partnership with Wanchain — we have deeper integrations and campaigns planned, to be announced at a later date. Stay tuned for more details, coming soon!

As always, a key objective here at VeChain is advancing adoption of Web3 technology, making it accessible for everyday users. By expanding VeChain’s interoperability through solutions such as Wanchain, we open another invaluable route towards this end goal.